G is for Golf

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

According to the Olympic website Golf is a simple game: Golf consists of “playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules”. That’s the first rule in the Rules of Golf.

The first recorded rules were established at St. Andrew's in Scotland in 1754 although some research suggests that the game was played in the Netherlands prior to this. It appeared in the 1900 and 1904 games and then it was absent for over 100 years. In fact it only reappeared in the most recent games held in Rio in 2016.

I have watched very little golf on TV although I think this must be the best way to watch it as you only get to see the best bits and not all the traipsing around the course and hunting for lost balls. (Not that the professionals lose theirs very often.) I haven't actually played golf (I'm not counting the obligatory Crazy Golf played during English seaside holidays.) but it certainly seems to be a way of getting a lot of exercise, especially meeting your daily step count.

Unfortunately I think I'd be making a shortcut to the 19th hole and undoing all the good work. (For non-golf players the 19th hole is how the clubhouse is referred to and where players usually end up after playing a round of 18 holes. It will at least have a bar and will often serve food.)

And this would probably sum up my attempts:






So golf is not the sport for me.

Gymnastics is probably my favourite G sport. I love watching it.

More obscure G sports include:

Ga-Ga which is a variant of Dodgeball, Glima which is a Scandinavian Martial Art and Gouren, a form of folk wrestling (?!) from Brittany in France.

Something that I could perhaps get involved in is Geocaching. This has become popular since changes to the GPS system in 2000 and regular visitors to my blog will know I love a challenge!

I was going to list Guyball as the daftest G on the list as Wiki lists it as a fictional game created for the British TV show "Green Wing" but.... it turns out to be "the fastest-growing new team sport in the world. It combines the most exciting elements of handball, volleyball, basketball and football. Players attempt to hit the ball into the goal without catching or holding it. They may bounce the ball and they can kick it but they can't score a goal with their feet."  This is according to the Guyball website and it's not just for guys either.  Sadly it's not for me though.  What about you?